Board Picked, Ending Ill. Museum Flap

CHICAGO — A new board has been named to head the Terra Museum of American Art in a changeover mandated by a legal settlement last year.

Eleven former board members stepped down Friday and were quickly replaced by the new board, with Marshall Field V as chairman.

The museum--with more than 700 works by such artists as Edward Hopper and Georgia O’Keeffe--has been involved in a two-year legal battle.

Two board members sued to block what they said was a scheme by Judith Terra, widow of museum founder Daniel Terra, and supporters to move the $100-million collection to Washington, D.C.

The settlement requires the Terra Foundation to remain in Illinois for 50 years and the art collection to be based in the Chicago area.

The 15-member board--four other people were named to it last year--is made up of businesspeople, art experts and academicians.

Field is a Chicago executive who is the former head of Field Enterprises and former publisher of the Sun-Times. He is a fifth-generation heir of Marshall Field, who created a department store dynasty bearing his name.